Looms for weaving cut-pile fabrics



June 17, 1969 G. N. LYGO 3,450,167

LOOMS FOR WEAVING CUT-FILE FABRICS Filed March 1-5, 1967 Sheet of 2 M- lsb 5:555 a 50 lla l3 lb Fig].

n IHZ JWM/V OW June 17, 1969 1G. N. LYGO 3,450,167

LOOMS FOR WEAVING CUT-FILE FABRICS Filed March 15, 1967' Sheet 2 of 2 IS lb E9. 4 13 F I? p US. Cl. 139-47 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A loom for weaving cut-pile fabrics in which deflecting surfaces are formed on stationary pile wires to cause pile yarns to form loops by passing to opposite sides of the pile wires as the yarns are raised and lowered.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to looms (hereinafter referred to as being of the kind specified) for weaving cut-pile fabrics wherein the pile is formed by bringing the pile yarns to a weaving station of the looms as pile-forming warps which are raised and caused to be looped over bars or rods, known as pile wires, which extend warpwise from the weaving station into the already woven fabric and wherein the loops formed about the pile Wires are cut open to produce the cut pile and liberate the woven fabric from the pile wires.

This invention is particularly concerned with the looping means whereby the pile-forming warps are caused to be looped around the pile wires, and has for its object the provision of a new or improved looping means.

Description of the prior art In known looms of the kind specified the fabric is woven by raising and lowering a number of parallel threads, known as binding warps, relatively to one another by means of reciprocating carrier frames, known as healds, and passing a thread forming the weft across the warps in timed relation with the raising and lowering thereof so as to produce a woven backing or base fabric. The pile is formed by similarly raising and lowering pile-forming warps with these other movements and the loops of pile are formed by oscillating the pile wires weftwise so that the pile-forming warps, as they are raised by heald working in co-ordination with other healds for the binding warps, are caused to pass to a selected side of the associated pile wires and, as they are lowered by said heald, are caused to pass, to the other side of such pile wires. In such known looms the free ends of the pile wires have been received between adjacent teeth of a comb or reed which is also caused to oscillate weftwise. After the formation of each loop the base fabric and the loops are pushed by a beater known as a sley along the pile wires against the already woven fabric to retain the pile yarn more securely in the base fabric, this operation being known as beating-up. As the woven fabric is pushed further along the pile wires the loops of yarn are advanced over cutting means to cut the loops open so as to produce tufts of pile and release the woven fabric from the pile wires.

It is usual to maintain a substantial number of uncut loops on the pile wires in the region of cutting means, these being generally situated at the ends of the pile wires at which the latter are supported. This ensures that the pile yarn is not pulled out of the base fabric since it is securely retained therein by the cumulative pressure resulting from several cycles of beating-up which follow the United States Patent formation of each loop before it is cut. However, the fact that a substantial number of loops are retained on each pile wire at any given time causes significant resistance to movement of the pile wire, such movement being necessary to effect formation of the loops.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention we provide a loom of the kind specified wherein the pile wires are formed or provided at their leading ends with looping means comprising respective deflecting surfaces to deflect the pileforming warp to one side of the pile wire as the pile-forming warp is raised, and to the other side thereof as the pile-forming warp is lowered.

Thus, in a loom in accordance with the present invention no movement is required to be performed by the pile wires and hence a substantial simplification of the mechanism of the loom is achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 shows a part cross-section through the loom,

FIGURE 2 shows a perspective 'view of one pile wire and adjacent parts of the loom,

FIGURE 3 shows an end-wise view of the pile wire from the forward or free end thereof on an enlarged scale, and

FIGURE 4 shows diagrammatically linkages forming driving means of the loom.

DESORIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The loom illustrated includes a plurality of pile wires 10 formed as flat strips spaced parallel across the width of the loom. The pile wires 10 are formed with end portions 10a of locally increased vertical dimensions which are received in slots between adjacent plates or teeth of a comb-like mounting member 20 supported on a cross member 18 which is arranged above a breast-plate 11 and secured rigidly to the frame (not shown) of the loom. The pile wires 10 are secured in position by means of a clamping member 19 bolted to the cross member 18 and formed with a projecting formation 1921 which intertits with a recess 10b in the end portion 10a of each pile wire 10. Adjacent to the cross member 18, each pile wire carries secured thereto a knife blade 27 at its upper side.

The pile wires each extend forwardly from the cross member and between adjacent dents 12a of a reed 12 mounted in a sley 13 which is reciprocated warpwise to beat-up woven fabric indicated at A to the breast-plate 11 after a pick of weft has been inserted by conventional means, such as a shuttle 25 or needle, between pairs of binding warps 22 and 23 as the latter are reciprocated in a vertical plane by respective healds 16 and 17, the warps being guided in respective eyes (such as 116a and 17a). A third heald 15 carries a third set of warps 24, known as stuffers, which are woven into the fabric. This heald 15 also carries the pile warps 26 so that these are reciprocated between positions respectively above and below the pile wires 10. The stutfers 24 however, do not pass above the level of the pile wires and are carried in the heald 15 by eyes (such as 15a) disposed below the eyes (such as 15b) through which the pile warps pass. The eyes for the stuifers 24 are elongated, as shown, so that the latter move in a predetermined time relationship to the pile warps 26 and through a smaller aperture.

To guide the pile warps 26 to one side of the respective pile wires 10 each time the heald 15 is raised and to the other side each time it is lowered so that the pile warps are looped over the pile wires, looping means 21 comprising deflecting surfaces are provided at the free ends of the latter. Such deflecting surfaces may be formed by twisting the free end portions of the pile wires relatively to the main fiat portion of the latter about a longitudinal reference axis X and through an angle in the range 3 to 30. Preferably, as shown, this free end portion is also bifurcated into a pair of divergent fins 21a, 2112, so as to be of fishtail shape, such fins extending respectively above and below the upper and lower edges of the main portion of the pile wire, and being inclined to a reference plane Y which is parallel to the plane of up and down movement of the pile warps 26 and is coincident with a medial plane parallel to the wider faces of the pile wire. It can clearly be seen from FIG- URE 3 that one fin 21a extends upwardly from the reference axis X to one side of the reference plane Y whilst the other fin 21b extends downwardly and to the other side of said plane Y. Such broadening of the vertical dimensions of the deflecting surfaces with respect to those of the pile wires ensures that the pile warps are moved laterally as they pass the deflecting surfaces without being excessively strained or unduly subjecting the pile wires themselves to strain at their free ends, the required horizontal movement of the pile warps taking place over a substantially increased range of vertical movement than would otherwise be the case. The width of the bifurcated portion and the angle at which the latter is twisted relatively to the main fiat portion of the pile wire are chosen to be such that the overall width of the bifurcated end portion measured horizontally is equal to the weftwise pitch of the reed 12 as best seen in FIGURE 3.

Thus, in action, the pile warps 26 may be deflected by the fins 21a and b so as to pass to the right of their associated pile wires 10 (as viewed looking towards the breast-plate as in FIGURE 3) as the heald is raised, and to the left as the latter is lowered, so as to form loops 28. Of course it would be equally possible for the pile warps to be wound around the pile wires in the op posite sense where desired. Subsequent beating-up of the fabric A to the breast-plate 11 pushes the loops 28 along the pile wires 10 up to the already woven fabric. Takeup roll mechanism pulls the fabric through the loom and caused the looped pile to come up to the blades 27 adjacent to the cross member 18 and so be cut to form individual tufts 29 of cut pile, and liberate the woven fabric as seen at B.

Instead of forming the deflecting surfaces integrally on the pile wires, it would be possible to provide these surfaces on an attached part. Thus for example the defleeting surfaces could be afforded by opposite sides of a spade like member having a socket which is adapted to receive the free end of the pile wire, which latter need not be formed of a flat strip but could comprise round or oval section rod. However, it is particularly simple and convenient to employ a flat strip for the pile wires and to form the looping means by bifurcating the end portion and then bending the fins thus formed into the required disposition.

The means for imparting the requistite motions to the sley 13 and healds 15, 16 and 17 is conventional and is illustrated diagrammatically in FIGURE 4.

The sley 15 is pivoted at 39 to a suitable fixed part of the loom and is rocked backwards and forwards by a pair of rods 30 and 31 which are pivoted together at 32 to form a toggle-like linkage, rod 30 being pivoted at 34 to the sley 13 and rod 31 being pivoted at 33 to a suitable fixed part of the loom. A connecting rod 35 is pivotally connected to the rods 30 and 31 at their junction 32 and imparts reciprocating movement to the rods by virtue of its pivotal connection '36 to a wheel 37 which rotates about an axle 38.

The heald 15 which raises and lowers the pile warps, and the two healds 16 and 17 which raise and lower the binding warps, are each reciprocated vertically by respective rods 40, 41 and 42 which are pivotally attached thereto at 43, 44 and 45 respectively.

The rod 40 is pivoted at '46 to a bellcrank lever shown at 47, the latter being oscillated about a fixed pivot 48 by means of a rod 49 pivotally attached thereto at 50. The rod 49 is reciprocated by a lever 52 to which it is pivotally attached at 51. The lever 52 is oscillated angularly about a fixed pivot 53 by a cam follower 54 driven from a double lobed cam 55 which is rotated on shaft 56.

The rods 41 and 42 are pivotally connected at 57 and 58 respectively to two arms of a three armed lever 66 which is oscillated about a fixed pivot 59 by a rod 60 pivotally attached thereto at 61. The three armed lever 66 is so arranged that when the heald 16 is raised the other heald 17 is lowered and vice versa. The rod 60 is reciprocated by a lever 63 to which it is pivotally connected at 62, and the lever 63 is oscillated about the fixed pivot 53 by a cam follower 64 driven by a single lobed cam also rotating on shaft 56. In this way the heald 15 is raised and lowered every time the heald 16 is raised or lowered.

The relationships between the movements of the three healds and the shuttle are normally such that every pile yarn is raised and lowered every time a pick of weft is inserted. However, it is possible to arrange for some pile yarns to stay in the raised position for several picks of weft, and other pile yarns to stay in the raised position for several other pic-ks of weft, all the pile yarns staying in the lowered position for only one pick. In this way longer loops would be formed and hence longer tufts.

What -I claim then is:

1. Apparatus for use with a loom having a breastplate and a reed with a plurality of spaced generally parallel dents and adapted to weave cut-pile fabrics, means for forming a base fabric, a plurality of pileforming warp yarns on said loom with each yarn disposed between a pair of said dents, means for moving each of said pile-forming warp yarns in a generally vertical plane to locations above and below said base fabric, said apparatus comprising a plurality of independent pile wires fixed at one end above said breast-plate and extending outwardly thereof generally in the plane of movement of said pile-forming warp yarns, the other end of each of said pile wires extending between a pair of said dents, said other end being bifurcated to form upper and lower fins, said upper fin being inclined to one side of the plane of movement of said pile-forming yarns and said lower fin being inclined to the opposite side thereof, said upper and lower fins terminating in a location generally equal to the weftwise pitch of the reed, and said fins providing the sole guiding means for said pileforming warp yarns, whereby when each of said pileforming warp yarns is raised it engages said upper fin and is directed to one side of the pile Wire, and when said pile-forming warp yarn is lowered it engages the lower fin and is directed to the opposite side of the pile wire so that a pile-forming loop is formed about said pile wire.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 778,363 12/1904 Hartley l3947 2,067,574 1/1937 Lowrie 139-47 HENRY S. JAUDON, Primary Examiner. 

